The case for looking behind the Swiss-cheese curtain at the “wizard of lies” and his wannabe mafia
Who would like, believe, much less admire or even trust a man like Michael Cohen? If you are a Trump supporter he is a rat and was rightly relegated to the shadows even in the best of times. If you are a Democrat or a liberal or a Biden supporter, or let’s just say it, a Trump hater , Never-Trumper or a member of the RVAT, why would you believe the guy who was, by his own admission, a dirty, criminal, perjury committing low life?
“…permit me to make a point: If you only read stories written by people you like, you will never be able to understand Donald Trump or the current state of the American soul. More than that, it’s only by actually understanding my decisions and actions that you can get inside Trump’s mind and understand his worldview.”
– Michael Cohen in forward to “Disloyal”
And now he (Cohen) is suddenly and permanently a paragon of virtue? Or at least no longer an “eager and willing” liar for a wannabe dictator?
Then again, as Cohen argues himself in his just released book excerpt, isn’t it always necessary to talk to and believe criminals, liars and “bad guys” in order to incriminate and convict a Mafia Don? Aren’t they, often after they are in witness protection and protective custody, the ones whose testimony is essential to finding out the true actions and character of the bosses and Capo dei capi?
From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise—I was an active and eager participant.”
Click to order “Disloyal” and help Lynxotic. Also available at Amazon
…As anyone in law enforcement will tell you, it’s only gangsters who can reveal the secrets of organized crime. If you want to know how the mob really works, you’ve got to talk to the bad guys. I was one of Trump’s bad guys. In his world, I was one hundred percent a made man.
While Cohen openly refers to himself as a “keystone cop” and the “Trump Mafia”, to the degree that such a thing exists, is more like a tragicomic almost childish attempt to emulate the Italian-american organized crime structure and behavior, as depicted in movies and folklore. Nevertheless the rise of this “buffoon” to the Presidency is a grave and serious matter, one that is now threatening us all.
Looking at Trump’s history of legal and illegal behavior, and the attempts by the US Justice system to rein him in, one sees a legal strategy of using an eminence front and a claim of innocence due to ignorance and incompetence. This was a major thread, along with the cries of “witch hunt”, in his attempts to avoid any consequences for the alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election. Cohen hits this point head on:
Both sides were wrong. I knew that the reality was much more complicated and dangerous. Trump had colluded with the Russians, but not in the sophisticated ways imagined by his detractors. I also knew that the Mueller investigation was not a witch-hunt. Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything—and I mean anything—to “win” has always been his business model and way of life.
…Trump had also continued to pursue a major real estate deal in Moscow during the campaign. He attempted to insinuate himself into the world of President Vladimir Putin and his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs. I know because I personally ran that deal and kept Trump and his children closely informed of all updates, even as the candidate blatantly lied to the American people saying, “there’s no Russian collusion, I have no dealings with Russia…there’s no Russia.”
For anyone who has viewed the recent Netflix series “Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia” the story is a familiar one: the code of silence makes the mafia immune to prosecution, other than low level crimes by “soldiers” while the bosses and the “godfather” are untouchable. Ultimately the use of the R.I.C.O. statute and, most importantly, audio bugging and recordings are combined to finally crack and dismantle organized crime.
Similarly, the famous tapes that ultimately brought down Nixon illustrate how an insulated boss can only be caught red handed via a “smoking gun”, in the form of an audio tape recording of a careless private “confession” of an overt criminal act.
“The President of the United States wanted me dead. Or, let me say it the way Donald Trump would: He wouldn’t mind if I was dead. That was how Trump talked. Like a mob boss, using language carefully calibrated to convey his desires and demands, while at the same time employing deliberate indirection to insulate himself and avoid actually ordering a hit on his former personal attorney, confidant, consigliere, and, at least in my heart, adopted son.”
Unfortunately, Trump and his keystone cop mafia saw all the movies and know the anecdotal accounts of the fall of Nixon, and so on. According to Cohen, this led Trump to create a system of plausible deniability through the use of euphemism and facial expressions, almost as if audio surveillance was considered a “given” and this new-age code of silence was elevated to an integral part of the criminal culture and way of life.
Cohen, of all people, was the perfect fall-guy to carry out these unspoken, deniable orders as his mission in life, right up until he turned on his idol:
“…I’m certain that Trump knows he will face prison time if he leaves office, the inevitable cold Karma to the notorious chants of “Lock Her Up!” But that is the Trump I know in a nutshell. He projects his own sins and crimes onto others, partly to distract and confuse but mostly because he thinks everyone is as corrupt and shameless and ruthless as he is; a poisonous mindset I know all too well.
”…I see the men who have replaced me and continue to forfeit their reputations by doing the President’s bidding, no matter how dishonest or sleazy or unlawful. Rudy Guiliani, William Barr, Jared Kushner and Mike Pompeo are Trump’s new wannabe fixers, sycophants willing to distort the truth and break the law in the service of the Boss”…
“Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power,” I concluded. “This is why I agreed to appear before you today.”
– Michael Cohen, in testimony before Congress
The book is available for pre-order and will be released on September 8th, 2020. It is already sitting at #1 on the bestseller list.
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Above: NEWST AD BY THE LINCOLN PROJECT ” I’M BEGINNING TO REGRET”
Provocation bulls-eye as the Mooch taunts Trump on Fox
The Lincoln Project consists of anti-Trump republicans, led by George Conway, husband of Kellyanne, and their disgust with the current occupant of the White House seems to grow daily. Though perhaps the best known Republican organization devoted to removing Trump, the Right Side PAC, also founded by Republicans including Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, along with Republican Voters Against Trump aka RVAT are also concentrating on working to consolidate the anti-Trump vote among Republicans, specifically.
All in all this has recently made for some interesting fireworks in the twittersphere and there have been some truly classic anti-Trumps ads produced, some of which we have featured recently (see the newest, above).
One successful strategy employed by all of the groups mentioned above, that appears to be working, is to attempt to “hit a nerve” and provoke a reaction, since, ultimately, Trump is the absolute best at making Trump look bad.
Above: Photo by Pauley Teeks via Twitter
The overall plan of elephants vs. their own appears to have legs…
This plan appears to have hit the motherlode in a recent exchange that produced a typically trashy Trump reaction and some amazing replies – a “mano a mano” tweet-war cage-match exclusively among Republicans on either side of the great Trump divide. After this it will be a canyon.
Scaramucci was interviewed Sunday night on Fox, on the show “The Next Revolution”, a pro-Trump Fox news staple, hosted by Steve Hilton. As could be expected, Trump was apparently glued to the tube as the show aired live and couldn’t resist tweeting a personal attack tweet directed at Scaramucci.
.@Scaramucci, who just made a fool of himself as he got taken apart by @SteveHiltonx, only lasted 11 days in his favorite of all time Administration, before being fired for, again, making a fool of himself. Anthony is a loser who begged to come back. I said “No Thanks”.
You could almost hear the chorus of “gotcha” from the Trump baiting pros as they responded with biting and incisive clarity and started an avalanche of critics and observers:
The Loser is you: 162,000 dead, 40 million American jobs lost on your watch. We are tired of all of the losing. We wanted you to succeed but you are an abject failure. Thankfully it will be over on 11/3. America will heal and rebuild. https://t.co/zRvJQzJo6k
Nepotism proves to be a recipe in failure for Trump clan
Another ad produced by the super PAC known as – The Lincoln Project takes a shot at Jared Kushner, calling him the “secretary of failure”. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law has been given a large handful of very important tasks, one of which was heading the response team uncharge of coming up with a plan to contain the spread of the pandemic.
So far the total lack of an effective “plan” and instead the obvious outcome that more and more Americans are losing their lives (150,000 and counting), he has definitely failed on that front.
The “Trump Whisperer” Sarah Cooper Triumphs again with new clip
These days there’s easy and endless material, updated on the hour that presents insane opportunities to laugh at our president. In all the horror and seriousness of the past week, still the comic parade continues. Never would I have guessed that a portion of a cognitive assessment test would bring about so much media attention, especially in a comical way.
Five simple words: “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV” has sparked a virtually endless barrage of content and has become a viral moment; a feeding frenzy of material from social media, of course, and TV comedians. Writer and comic Sarah Cooper is one that made a particularly noteworthy appearance. She shared one of her signature lip-syncing videos “How to person woman man camera tv.” This kind of hilarious, great work is nothing new for Cooper, who has been active over the past months making over 20 lip-sync videos titled “How to President” that have clocked over 1.5 million views on her YouTube and Tik Tok accounts.
The Lincoln Project also released a funny ad that doctored a video to resemble a laugh-track laden situation comedy such as the hit comedy sitcom show “Seinfeld”. The clip plays out hilariously edited bits and pieces of the President’s interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.
When asked about the Fox poll that posits the question – whose is more competent? Wallace tells Trump that Biden beats him. Trump then crafts his reply, as he attempts to defend himself, claiming the test “gets very hard, the last five questions” and “Nobody has done what I’ve done.”
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) which is not really a test, is a series of mental tasks that include being asked to identify images of animals, recall the date and memorize a sequences of words. The assessment is actually supposed to be quick and easy as its a straightforward screening tool to measure different areas of the brain responsible for short-term memory, spatial awareness and executive brain function.
Trump has made it a point to brag that he “aced” the cognitive tests, while most people, rightly, are aware that the test isn’t to gauge a person’s IQ/intelligence but rather to measure for potential impairment in cognition which includes memory. His pride in passing this impairment “test” has been inspiration for a wide variety of comic gold.
Enter Late Night for some more laughs
Stephen Colbert’s “A Late Show”, Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” and Trevor Noah’s “The Daily Show” all took turns poking fun at President Trump.
We are seeing Hourly Newsflashes as Trump tests his ability to send a “private” militia into American cities under the fabricated necessity of countering of “threats” to federal buildings.
The recent and unfolding events in Portland and the real threats of using similar force and tactics across the US represent a new level of crisis for this election year. A false narrative with exaggerated so-called “threats” to buildings by groups of, in reality, peaceful protesters who are being labeled criminals, terrorists and are at times suffering beatings, tear gas and even kidnapping, all at the hands of unidentified federal agents.
There has been an extreme and seemingly panicked barrage of fabricated emergencies all centered around the continued, mostly peaceful, protests originally ignited by the murder of George Floyd and the BLM focused demonstrations that followed.
Trump has blamed “violent anarchists” who he claims are part of the “radical left” and are allied with Democrats, and that these vaguely designated groups have created “a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence.”
With the false bravado of a man enamored with his own fantasy of power he intoned: “This bloodshed must end,” and “This bloodshed will end.”
Many who believe in American Democracy are left searching for these crimes and this emergency, and where exactly the connections are that, somehow show, the “radical left” is behind any violent crimes. Further, crimes that are more obviously, to the degree that crimes are being committed at all, being committed by a scattered and relatively small group of unaffiliated individuals.
Instead, it is the trumped-up response which appears to rational observers to be an attempt to provoke the very “crimes” that he has vowed to stop (and which he has imagined or exaggerated for the purpose of political theater). And further, from all appearances, there is a coordinated effort by the federal government, led by Bill Barr and various unconfirmed “interim” or “acting” department heads, to create a coterie of paramilitary forces that can be used by Trump to act with physical force and violence in any way he sees fit.
As this bizarre and unprecedented attack on democracy is unfolding, even republican, right wing, former members of the conservative establishment are shocked. Here are some recent quotes and headlines:
“For a President and an administration that calls itself ‘law and order,’ they have broken the law, and are creating disorder.”
Fmr. Sec. of State Madeleine Albright
“What is really at stake is the delegitimizing of Democrats altogether before the 2020 election. Today Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser to the Trump campaign and one of Trump’s personal lawyers tweeted: “No Democrat should EVER AGAIN be elected in the United States in any capacity.”
So Tom Ridge, another homeland security secretary under Bush, has also opened fire, noting that DHS’s mission is to protect against “global terrorism” and was “not established to be the president’s personal militia.” “It would be a cold day in hell before I would consent to a unilateral, uninvited intervention into one of my cities,” Ridge told Michael Smerconish.
“That kind of activity is the activity of a police state, and this president and this attorney general seem to be doing everything they possibly can to impose Gestapo activities in local communities, and that is what I have been warning about for a long time. I do believe that this election is all about the preservation of the greatest democracy that this country has ever known,” Clyburn said Monday during an interview on CNN.
South Carolina Rep. John Clyburn
“I think it’s unconstitutional and dangerous and heading towards fascism,” he said.
Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro
And not not-senate-confirmed “acting” Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security had this general response:
“DHS is answering the President’s call to use our law enforcement personnel across the country to protect our historic landmarks. We won’t stand idly by while violent anarchists and rioters seek not only to vandalize and destroy the symbols of our nation, but to disrupt law and order and sow chaos in our communities.”
Acting DHS Secretary Chad F. Wolf
Hitler, Mussolini and Trump: a short glance at historical similarities
Hitler
In the early 1920s, long before Hitler was in power in Germany, he was a politician with a need for bodyguards. In addition, his newly formed Nazi party encouraged followers to commit violent attacks against leftists and outsiders (jews). The SA a.k.a. the brown shirts were a personal militia comprised of violent thugs attacking whoever Hitler designated as the enemy of his vision for Germany. By 1933, there were over 3 million members.
Violent attacks occurred often against any individuals or group that dared to disagree with Hitler’s politics or were just among the declared enemies, with Jews and leftists at the top of the list. Through the physical intimidation of individuals and opposing political groups, his rise to power, in steps, was made possible.
The idea that a political movement “needs” a violent para-military component is a common thread in the history of various fascist dictators and their rise to power. Designating political enemies as “terrorists” (such as Trump is trying to do to antifa). Encouraging violence against them, using a justification of “safety and protection” of the general public that supposedly sides with the “vision of law and order” put forth by the would be dictator is a common theme from Hitler’s rise that we are also seeing today.
Mussolini
Similar to Hitler’s “BrownShirts”, Mussolini had his “Blackshirts”. The similarities between Hitler’s rise and that of Mussolini are well documented. Mussolini’s blueprint for Fascist power was later repeated in Germany, if the similarities being coincidental or by design is unimportant.
Racism, hatred of foreigners (in Italy’s case the prime scapegoats being Africans and Asians to the south and east) and violent intimidation of anyone who questions his and his parties authority were the familiar script.
The similarities to the present day are the grave and serious issue, and the differences are what will decide our fate.
Trump
Unlike in the fascism stories above, Trump is already the elected President and the “leader of the free world”. It is important to note that “free” in that phrase means, among other things, free from fascist dictatorships. On the other hand, the recent events in portland and elsewhere show a serious and dangerous precedent where Trump is using the DHS and it’s “acting” director as if they are his version of the SA or even SS.
Perhaps the Gestapo is a more apt analogy, but there’s an element of this being a cobbled together band of thugs like the brown or blackshirts mentioned above as this was, apparently, a hastily crafted group of federal agencies that appear to have been gathered by Attorney General Bill Barr, rather than an organized long standing secret police force.
Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.
These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission.
The consensus among those who would rather not see Trump find a way to take control of the US as a modern day Mussolini is that many, if not all, of the steps and actions taken thus far are dead wrong, even if they represent a convoluted way to break the intended spirit of US law and Constitution while maintaining a kind of shadow legality.
The now clichéd quote, famously from a John F Kennedy in a speech in 1961: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” nevertheless applies here to all men, women and children of this country.
An astounding thing about the historical tragedies surrounding the fascists rising to power in the first half of the 20th century is that, early on, when they could still have been stopped by a sufficiently outraged majority, the dangers were underestimated until it was too late.
“Never again” should be our response to that statement and we must be prepared to back it up, no matter what.
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A Book of Historic Importance as November Election approaches
Mary Trump’s book, the memoir titled “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” went on sale on July 14, 2020. There has been much buzz leading up to its release and it is now clear that a serious number of people are going to read this book. Those that do will get an intimate insider’s view of the president and his family dynamics.
Publisher Simon & Schuster reported that the title has already sold almost 1 million units, with approximately 950,000 copies sold at the end of its first day on the market. The totals also include pre-orders, audio and e-books. This also represents a new opening-day sales record for the publishing company.
On June 23,2020 when former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” was released, yet another exposé about Trump, also published by Simon & Schuster, it too also held massive sales, yielding in more than 780,000 copies on its first week.
Both books endured repeated attempts by President Trump and his family to block any release. Trump claimed Bolton’s book would reveal classified information and that Mary Trump had violated her nondisclosure agreement. In each case, a judge denied requests for injunctions and both books are now available for mass public consumption.
After the judge’s ruling in her favor, Mary Trump took to social media and began posting on her Twitter account, her first tweets since 2018. Welcome back, Mary
Doctor Anthony Fauci has held the position of Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for nearly 50 years and most recently the lead expert in the Trump Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force. Dr. Fauci has, from the beginning, vocalized his predictions about COVID-19, warning the public of its seriousness and the urgent need to take precautions (social distancing and wearing a face covering). Recently, however, The White House has lobbed seemingly random criticisms against the doctor. For example, Trump, in an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, called Fauci a “nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.” Also Peter Navarro, Trump’s Trade Advisor, in an op-ed in USA Today, wrote that Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on”. In a recent response Fauci called the attacks “bizarre”, and added that Peter Navarro was “in a world of his own”.
The Lincoln Project has put together a succinct and poignant look at this exchange in a new ad, released on July 15, 2020, contrasting the “American Hero” and “Natural Leader” with the abysmal conduct of the President during the coronavirus pandemic and crisis. (above)
So why would anyone attack and blame Fauci, who has served as a medical advisor for 6 different presidents? Perhaps, as shown in the video, while Fauci has been nothing but upfront and honest, Trump has failed America and repeatedly lied about the severity of the virus, confidently stating, the now obviously absurd opinion, that the virus will just “disappear one day like a miracle”.
In the text accompanying the clip on their web site, the group added:
“Dr. Fauci has served both Republican and Democratic administrations. He is a profoundly respected physician, whose work has improved the lives of millions of Americans,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project. He continued, “President Trump’s incompetence has cost 130,000 Americans their lives, sickened millions more and wrecked our economy
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project is a super-PAC formed in 2019 by a group of Republicans that hold a singular mission: To defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism.
Conservative Republican Org a.k.a. RVAT’s new ad highlights the need for a Nov. 3rd Trump Loss
Another video has been released from Republican Voters Against Trump, who are more simply referred to as RVAT, a political initiative launched by Defending Democracy Together, with a view to safeguarding the 2020 presidential election against a Trump victory. The clip below shows how the president and in particular his adoring VP, Mike Pence, have uttered numerous falsehoods about the realities of the coronavirus, in stark comparison to the truth and facts, such as the increasing spread of the virus and how case numbers are rapidly rising.
The United States continues to report record high totals of daily new cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many states have had different approaches to reopening and face-covering restrictions, and those with more lenient restrictions have had major surges of new confirmed cases. As the new academic year is fast approaching, there are many school districts struggling to decide if they will be opening up normally or will start with online classes only.
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New ad highlights the hypocrisy of the first family
Some of the many appalling and even disgusting facets of the Trump era are reflected in the primitive psychological tactics that emanate from any speech or off the cuff remark from the President. “Gaslighting“, “Whataboutism” and “I know you are but what am I” playground level taunts and name calling abound. And, above all, the tactic of projecting whatever you are accused of onto your enemies, no matter how ridiculous it appears. Like on July 4th when trump implied that Antifa was a “fascist” organization. How can a group with “anti” and Fascist” in the very name be accused of being the thing that they have clearly and overtly declared themselves to be against? Ask Trump.
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And now, in an apple-falling-not-far-from-the-tree moment of imbecilic genetic transference, Don Jr. employs all of the above in a recent twisted tirade on Fox. Unfortunately for him, the folks that call themselves the “Meidas Touch” were able to illustrate just how ridiculous and revealing this web of insanity really is. Take a look:
On a their web site in text accompanying the clip they added:
“The Trump children, propped up in this regime by the bizarre and shameless nepotism seen in banana republic dictatorships, represents the blend of incompetence, entitlement and cringeworthy hypocrisy that has propelled America into disaster we are now in under Trump.”
Along with the great work from The Lincoln Project and RVAT (Republican Voters Against Trump) anti-Trump, pro-Biden ads have been coming out almost daily. All using Trump’s own words and actions to show his various lies, his hypocrisy and downright creepiness in sharp focus with a view to ousting him in November.
Above: A truly creepy look at actual footage of Trump in various interviews and impromptu moments featuring Ivanka, and his ol’ convicted-sex-offender pal Jeffrey Edward Epstein. It’s astonishing how this old footage can make the Trump family look even worse and, yes, even more creepy, than the recent events touched on in the first video clip above. November 3rd can’t come soon enough, it would seem, for any of us who have witnessed these ads.
The Meidas Touch is not specifically a Conservative Republican organization, which the other two mentioned above are, but rather is headed by attorney Ben Meiselas, who has been involved in high profile cases involving civil rights and more, such as the lawsuit brought by Colin Kaepernick against the NFL.
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Following up a spate of “worst ever” coronavirus decisions with yet another…
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced their ambitions to have all public schools open and operating by the fall for the start of the new academic year. This is a dicey decision, for most schools closed long before the start of summer break because of the coronavirus, transitioning to virtual leaning for the last few months of classes. Thus, reopening schools in autumn would only make sense if there was a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases over the summer.
Unfortunately, such is not the case, as the pandemic recently hit a second spike with increased numbers in several states throughout the country. Barring some miracle, it does not look like the coronavirus will be reasonably diminished by the regular first day of school. Still, Trump and DeVos are steadfast in their plan to reopen, even threatening to thin school budgets for districts that remain closed.
Understandably, the President and Secretary’s outlook has been criticized by many, most notably teachers, who are strangely left out of conversations about plans to reopen. Many state and local governments—the institutions who have the most direct say in how their schools should operate—also disagree with the federal government on this one, for it puts students, teachers, and faculty members at incredibly high risk.
Like all things COVID-19-related, though, the risk is not equally intense across the board. Although the public school system is often dubbed America’s great equalizer, history shows that such has never quite been the case. Socio-economic imbalances, racial inequities, language-barriers, and additional differences between districts proves that not every student has the same opportunities across America. The choice to reopen all schools during a pandemic only highlights these ongoing discrepancies.
A higher risk for the lowest income areas echos throughout the pandemic, including schools
First off, there is the simple fact that not all places in America are experiencing COVID-19 in the same way. A few months ago, the mid-Atlantic was facing the worst of it while the Rocky Mountains were relatively safe. Now, states like New Jersey and New York are recovering while figures in Idaho and Utah are surging. To execute the same course of action in all schools across all states in these uncertain times would make no logical sense.
Even schools within the same states, though, have to deal with this pandemic in different ways. Schools in wealthy communities, for example, may have the local tax dollars to afford more instructors, thus allowing for smaller class sizes with more socially-distanced environments. Contrarily, schools operating on shoestring budgets—often urban and overcrowded schools—will have no choice but to put their students at risk. Non-coincidentally, these are also the schools that would be most effected by budget cuts.
Likewise, schools located in disadvantaged parts of the country deal with student populations at a higher risk. Although we are told the virus doesn’t discriminate, if a poor child is infected or someone in his or her family gets sick, that student will face a far less secure road to recovery than someone coming from money. Healthcare bills, insufficient housing, and the tumultuous state of the economy renders the virus far more dangerous to certain demographics than others right. All life is equally precious, but students in schools with large classes and tight budgets have the most to lose from coming into contact with the disease.
Then, there is the matter of education, the quality of which could be severely hurt if students and teachers spend valuable class time worrying about a perilous disease. Increasing precautions would be essential, but who would be responsible for enforcing such precautions? It is hardly the duty of teachers, who being older and having to engage in multiple classes a day will often be at even greater risk than their students.
The danger is real and forcing an across-the-board re-opening is no solution at all
Teachers are already severely overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated for all the effort they put in, and most of them go above and beyond for their students as it is. However, demanding them to put their lives in jeopardy day-in and day-out is simply too much to ask, especially when none of the people making this decision for them are (or ever have been) teachers.
Of course, nobody dislikes remote learning more than teachers and students. They know better than anyone how imperative in-person instruction is to learning. But it is still not as important as health and wellbeing. Today and always, those should be the top priorities in any institution.
Plus, if Trump or DeVos want to use the “learning experience” or the “importance of education for all” as their rationales for reopening, one only needs to look at their records in the field to recognize the con. Since assuming their current titles, the two political cronies have slashed the federal education department’s budget, often targeting Special Education programs and LGBTQ+ protections for cuts. They are also both big proponents of education privatization. Evidently, the “importance of education for all” was not a big deal for them before the virus started spreading during an election year.
Speaking of privatization, many private schools—including some of the nation’s most elite universities—are currently announcing plans for their fall semesters, and most of them involve remote learning in some capacity. Once again, it demonstrates how the premature decision to reopen schools is latently classist. The students who can afford private educations won’t have to risk their lives everyday. Trump and DeVos, both of whom patronize private high schools and universities, clearly do not think public school students deserve the same protections as their own children.
Sadly, these educational inequities have always been the case. The egregious pressure that Trump and DeVos are currently putting on our nation’s most vulnerable and innocent, however, just brings these inequities to the foreground.
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To get through this we’re gonna need all our faculties on high alert…
It’s no wonder that the busiest freeway on the planet is nearly empty, with all that’s going on. Sure. But try driving on it if you remember the old normal. To dramatize, take a look at the video above taken during the 5pm rush hour on Tuesday, and the video below, of just what this beast could do on a big traffic day. Even a “normal” day, pre-covid-19 had a similar feeling. Not anymore.
It can be an emotional and somber experience to see, first hand and in-person, what the busiest freeway in the world looks like in the middle (at the beginning?) of a pandemic and with unemployment rate at up to 50% (locally). And then there’s the one bright spot; that the deserted freeway is being impacted even more so by the new “WFH” (work from home) boom as we change our lives and reduce carbon emissions by living a digital life.
“Anecdotal” evidence: raising the feeling that something’s going on other than what you hear from on-high
Sometimes, even if you listen to the voices all around you, take in all the news and noise, you just have to block all of that out and take a good look with your own eyes. If you look beneath the surface of the news you will also find a very different story.
Take for example the recent “positive” jobs reports. Unemployment appears to be dropping and the overall numbers are not as bad as many had feared, right? Or is that just a manufactured impression? The previous official jobs reports were rife with confusion and even errors that were admitted outright by The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of course by that time the “good news” had already circulated and had created the desired effect (a delay of the stock market pricing-in the real unemployment numbers).
The reports, according to former US secretary of labor, Robert Reich, are not giving an accurate picture, and he points out in a recent piece that the real situation is that the current number of unemployed is the worst in over 70 years.
Naturally the reasons, emanating from the top job at the White House, for wanting to spin these very important numbers, are obvious. Not only is there the the high stakes re-election scenario but, in this special case, the potential prosecutions that could proceed from a loss for Trump in November.
And if you are not a “Robin Hood” day trader and are just trying to get a life?
Although Los Angeles is not currently in an official “lockdown”, there is a surge in new cases and over twelve million active cases worldwide, and over three million in the US alone. Therefore, the streets reflect the real situation that people are experiencing – both economic due to the lack of employment and the caution and self-isolation that is appropriate and the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in the city.
Donald Trump said Thursday’s jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the US economy is “roaring back”.
Rubbish. The labor department gathered the data during the week of 12 June, when America was reporting 25,000 new cases of Covid-19 a day. By the time the report was issued, that figure was 55,000.
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Then, just today, the newest jobs report came out. The headline on Marketwatch was that, although 33 million people are unemployed and millions more getting laid off weekly, “many doubt it’s that bad”. Why the caveat? You tell me.
Rather than focusing on the 33 million out of work, with the real number potentially far higher, they question anything that may help to mitigate the negative impression (bad for the stock market). Then they feature an earlier story with the title: “U.S. Regains 4.8 million Jobs in June”, further giving the impression that everything is hunky dory.
Oh, and late last night United Air Lines announced that they would lay off 36,000 which they site as a worst case scenario. Brooks Brothers announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bed, Bath and Beyond are closing 200 stores. And the list goes on.
With the Climate Crisis far from over, A pandemic that has no end in sight and economic repercussions that are beginning to boggle the mind, there is plenty to overwhelm the average or even supra-average human.
Maybe, for now though, with all the doom and gloom, it’s best to just put the pedal-to-the-metal and enjoy the empty road…
Truckloads on the road to fulfill Tuesday launch orders…
Simon and Schuster, the publisher for the upcoming exposé of how the Trump family “created the world’s most dangerous man” according to the book’s subtitle, will be officially on sale next Tuesday. Previously it had been scheduled for release on July 28th.
The new plan for the accelerated publication appears to be based on the release, last week, of the publisher from a temporary restraining order. Since there are tens of thousands of copies already in the hands of reviewers and as pre-release stock for bookstores, it is highly unlikely that any further legal maneuvering can prevent the release next Tuesday.
Some details begin to emerge from the author herself
The back cover information, also posted today on the publishers web site, gives substantial insight into the style and direction of the book. Quoted directly from the text, we get a taste of the kind of analysis that one could expect from a Psychologist with a PhD from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, which is the biographical description given by Simon & Schuster of Mary Trump’s educational background.
Using highly personal insights, culled from her close family ties, into the childhood of the President, it paints a picture of arrested development and emotional immaturity, based, according to the author, on “abuse”.
Today, Donald is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information.”
Although there appears to be little chance of a legal challenge toward the publisher, it is likely that the legal representatives of both Donald Trump and his younger brother Robert will continue with all possible challenges, if only to prevent Mary any opportunity to profit from sales of the tomb.
“That Fred would become the primary source Donald’s solace when he was much more likely to be a source of fear or rejection put Donald into an intolerable position: total dependence on a caregiver who also caused him terror. Donald suffered deprivations that would scar him for life.
— MARY L. TRUMP IN “TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH
As of this writing the book sits at the top of best seller lists, while the West Wing exposé, John Bolton’s “The Room Where it Happened”, is at #2.
Now, as if that was not enough regarding well-timed Trump related book bombshells, according to a google books summary posted by the publisher, Gallery Books, (which is an imprint of Simon & Schuster) Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, known to be close friend of Melania Trump is also planning to release a tell-all about the First Lady “this fall”. Wolkoff who was former adviser to the East Wing, will divulge details from their 15 year relationship. Titled: ‘Melania and Me: My Years as Confidant, Advisor and Friend to the First Lady’ it will be on shelves as early as September 1st, based on a Vanity Fair report
The New York Times also reported that Wolkoff was cooperating with Manhattan federal prosecutors in their investigation of Trump inaugural committee and its fundraising and spending practices. The article also delves into disputes between the soon-to-be author and the White House regarding the circumstances under which she left her position as East Wing advisor.
A description of the book by the publisher, as detailed in the Vanity Fair piece, says that it will start when Wolkoff met Melania and became friends, and weave through her help planning the 58th presidential inauguration, along with “navigating the White House and East Wing.”
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A building chorus of dissenting voices from well heeled and carefully researched corporate ad buyers
Zuckerberg faces the music (collage / Lynxotic)
The Facebook ad boycott has been going on for several weeks now, as more and more companies are abstaining from promoting content on the social media website until it makes greater amends to eliminate hate speech on its platform. At first, many expected that the boycott would not be enough to spark real change. After all, only about a hundred companies are engaged in it, and Facebook hosts over 8 million advertisers. However, now that a few key players have joined the movement, Facebook is facing palpable financial and PR consequences, heralding an indirect response.
Companies started to boycott ads on Facebook earlier this month, as civil rights groups such as the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, Sleeping Giants, Color Of Change, Free Press and Common Sense criticized the site for providing a platform for racist and bigoted content. These groups were particularly critical of Facebook failing to censor President Trump‘s inflammatory post regarding the Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s death. In the post, Trump stated, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” endorsing a hateful rhetoric riddled with dark precedents.
Facebook was defensive of allowing Trump’s post go unedited at first, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg playing the free-speech card that has kept Facebook relatively unaccountable in the past for the mounds of unsavory content plastered on the site.
Now, however, Facebook is waking up to a significant hit to the wallet.
Major ad contributors have joined the boycott against Facebook including Verizon, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and dozens upon dozens more, with most making a statement that they will abstain from advertising on Facebook through the summer or until the site changes its methods. It is part of a movement titled “Stop Hate For Profit,” targeted at companies that make money off of bigotry.
Money matters, apparently, particularly big, big sums
As mentioned above, the companies who have joined the movement are but a drop in Facebook’s ocean of advertisers. Nevertheless, amidst the boycott and all of the negative PR Facebook has acquired as a result, the site’s stock price has dropped significantly. On Friday, June 26th, its stock went down more than 8%, representing a loss $56 billion in market value for the company. Even for a company like Facebook, that is not exactly chump-change.
Non-coincidentally, later that same day, Zuckerberg released a statement outlining Facebook’s plans to be more proactive about censoring content on the website. In a thirteen minute video and accompanying post, the CEO explained that going forward, Facebook will be making more efforts to ensure that all users feel safe on the website. This includes prohibiting ads that target or demean certain demographics, making it more apparent when content is or is not deemed “newsworthy,” and increasing security for content related to the upcoming election, flagging hoax videos and removing the spread of misinformation.
A long list of convictions and potential crimes is beginning to mount
The larger question exists as to why now, after facebook’s lax and predatory behaviors are well known and documented, suddenly these major advertisers have woken to the urgency of change? BLM and antitrust, along with a long list of highly critical investigative reports from major news over a period of years, might just be building into a tsunami of anti-facebook sentiment too big to ignore.
It was Facebook’s complacency with spreading misinformation during the 2016 Election—as well as the Cambridge Analytica privacy breeches— that instigated the website’s fall from grace nearly four years ago. Since then, Facebook among other big-tech labels have been the subject of greater criticism for their role in politics, culture, and public discourse.
While Zuckerberg’s latest video feels more substantial than most of his responses to criticism. It attempts to off some possible real solutions to the problems rather than just hollow suggestions or distractive rebranding techniques. Still, many are not satisfied, hoping that Facebook will focus more on removing all hateful content rather than simply flagging it, or adjusting its corporate allegiances so they stop selling data to or providing a platform for institutions that aim to disenfranchise people.
As the boycott continues, perhaps Facebook’s response will grow more progressive, but Zuck and his company continue to toe that delicate line between upholding freedom of speech and quelling unambiguously offensive content. Likewise, it will be interesting to see what the boycotters do in the coming months. Facebook is a crucial advertising platform for most of these corporations. By the end of the summer, will they start using the site again, or will they continue to hold out until greater change comes about?
To endorse the former would seem like a sellout, like the entire boycott was but a disingenuous gesture. However, to carry on with the boycott indefinitely begs the question of how much Facebook needs to adjust itself before returning to the public’s (as well as other business’) good graces.
Ultimately, the question is whether real change is finally coming; for us all to have a choice of more than a single, solitary option for our social media network (facebook), search engine (google) or eCommerce destination (amazon).
The Lincoln Project, Republican Voters Against Trump and Others are Actively Working to Get Him Gone
A new super-PAC has also been launched with participation of former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci called Right Side PAC. The Lincoln Project (video above) along with RVAP.org and this new organization all have one thing in common; an active desire to see Trump gone, so much so that they are supporting Joe Biden under the never-Trump philosophy.
Actively looking to target red battleground states and get support from moderate Republicans, a growing and ever-more-visible backlash among “traditional” conservatives and many more who are ready to actively campaign against the “leader” of their own party.
The Lincoln Project has been very active in opposing Trump, bringing a no-holds-barred and yet dignified approach to the resistance from a conservative perspective. With high-profile names such as George Conway, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson (see book he authored at right), Jennifer Horn and others, listed as advisors. The group is carving out a solid mind-share through the almost-constant release of ads on social media and with paid ads on various broadcast outlets.
Republican Voters Against Trump a.k.a. RVAT.org are also on the warpath, looking to remove the current occupant of the White House at the ballot box. They recently launched with a $10 million war chest and have also produced strong anti-trump ads (see below). Their website features a vast and growing collection of testimonials by former Trump voters and Republicans that are ready to vote for Biden, in order to rid the country of the man they, in some cases, helped to elect.
The approach is simple, yet powerful, with each testimonial showing the home state of the voter and a quote indicating why they are ready to switch and, more significantly, willing to speak out against the Republican nominee and in favor of his challenger.
High profile, bombshell-launching books by insiders are lined up to expose corruption and crimes
The current wave of media coverage for John Bolton’s “The Room Where It Happened” is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to books filled with insider information exposing the scandalous wrongdoings of Trump and his administration.
Currently sitting at #1 on the bestseller charts (as a pre-order) Bolton’s long awaited book is scheduled for a huge release on June 23rd and all the desperate efforts by Trump and his lawyers to stop it appear to be garnering nothing more than added publicity.
The leaks of damning details culled from the book, based on Bolton’s tenure as 27th United States National Security Advisor, so far have been revelatory. Judging from the level of panic coming from the administration and efforts to squelch the release, there is much, much more still to come, once the full details are out.
Most publicized leak from the tomb to date: Bolton corroborates hard details of the Ukraine quid-pro-quo that got Trump impeached, and states that the inquiry could have uncovered more such crimes with any further digging.
Bolton is being criticized heavily by Democrats for not cooperating and testifying during the impeachment trial, and for grabbing a $2 million advance for the book instead.
The Ultimate insider’s account recounts an origin story fit for a comic book super-villain, based on pre-release details…
Already at #2 on current bestseller lists is the “other” massive story, Too Much and Never Enough, exposing corruption and evil from an ultimate insider, Trump’s own niece Mary L. Trump. The eldest grandchild of Fred Trump Sr., the 55 year-old has a PhD from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies and has taught courses in developmental psychology, psychopathology, and trauma.
With the book’s sub-title calling her Uncle, currently sitting in the White House, the “World’s Most Dangerous Man”, it is clearly not a favorable view into the mind and genesis of the morally bankrupt former reality-TV personality.
“In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.“
Simon & Schuster Publisher’s Description of Too Much and Never Enough How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man By Mary L.Trump
Scheduled to be released on July 28th, conveniently less than a month before the Republican convention, which is set to begin on August 24th, the books profile and buzz have already hit the stratosphere and will only build further as the election chatter heats up in August.
As the election season peak approaches, a massive anti-Trump tsunami appears to be on the horizon
Bearing in mind that the election battle 2020 is underway but at nowhere near a peak, the few elements mentioned above represent a building media and grass-roots chorus in opposition to the current regime. Not only will books, ads and testimonials continue to be produced and combined to attack the famous attacker, but progress in the multitude of legal challenges he faces will expose more facts and data almost certainly unfavorable to his support among the voting public.
Between the powerful forces growing on the Right, in his own Party, and the fallout to be expected from these and other revelatory tombs to come, Tump faces stiff opposition from all sides. For a man who benefitted from literally millions of social media posts made by Russian bots and was even potentially elected as a result of their influence, it would be a fitting end to his political saga if real, live, flesh-and-blood people he has hurt or endangered, would finally stand up and ensure that he can no longer inflict damage on this nation.
Only an illiterate thug with no concept of history would talk about people who are against Fascism in America as “terrorists”. Unfortunately, the media has joined in the hate parade and keeps stating the “fact” that “antifa” is a “far-far left” radical violent organization, and then mentioning various caveats to show they are not agreeing with the wannabe Fascist in the White House.
Many large news outlets have tried to give a “definitive” overview of the real situation regarding the violent elements of the recent unrest vs. the perception that is being pushed by the current administration. The picture news media paints is almost as warped as the government version.
Poster Art by Paramount Pictures
“Antifa” is short for anti-fascist” and, yes, there is a european history behind the resistance to the rise of fascist regimes leading up to World War II. Bizarrely, no mention is made in these “definitive” accounts of the fact that the Axis powers in Europe, Germany and Italy were in control of fascist dictators and that we, the Alliance, were the enemy of fascism and the heroic liberators of the people enslaved and killed by these dictators.
Although many have indirectly pointed to the similarities between the rise of Trump, or at least his attempted power grabs, and the early period of European history when both Hitler and Mussolini were on the rise.
They too outlawed “terrorists”, which was anyone who they believed were against them. They each had bands of thugs who were used to intimidate with illegal violence anyone that they perceived as a threat. Now we have a “private army” amassed by Bill Barr and an armed “militia” being egged on to use automatic rifles to intimidate elected officials in the Michigan state capitol and in other places.
And “antifa” are dangerous terrorists? Is that some kind of a joke?
High profile american patriots have an obligation to speak out – now
Not long ago Rachel Maddow made a speech on her show saying “The dark days are not coming, the dark days are here”. That was over six months ago and, as everyone knows, much darker days have come since.
What are we waiting for? Where are the people who can see the most obvious facts in front of their faces and then decide to stand up and declare: I am an american patriot and therefore, as has been the case throughout our storied history I stand against Fascism in any form at any time, anywhere in the world, especially here in the USA!
Where are the people who see what is happening before our eyes, journalists, celebrities, powerful public figures and politicians who are ready to say: Stop fascism and the attempt to create a fascist dictatorship now!
Do we want to wait for the country to be under marshall law and then watch while concentration camps are built to hold anyone who dares to call themselves against fascism, and therefore against the wannabe fascist in the White House?
Based on viewing social media video evidence such as the one above, along with official assessments, the two largest contingents of looters and criminals during the recent unrest across America were right wing confederates of Trump trying to start a race war and professionals, sometimes driving up in Rolls Royces and brand new Mercedes sedans, who are clearly not anti-fascists (unless they are very rich ones).
That is a point that should not even need to be debated. The point that matters is that being against fascism is the most pro-american and mainstream heroic stance anyone, from any part of society, can take and has been throughout our history.
Nonsense and lies that are dignified with any kind of measured response, rather than outright rejection, encourages dangerous propaganda that we can not afford to repeat, even to denounce
Where are the “good” fascist dictators? Where is the society that was improved by a fascist power structure? What kind of senseless idiocy is it to debate with someone, someone that has obvious designs on becoming some kind of fantasy dictator who has fascist tendencies, as to who the “real terrorist” is?
Perhaps this common sense “clear as the nose on your face” approach will not be taken seriously by the large corporate media outlets. After all, there is a consensus that “antifa is bad, just not as bad as Trump says”: that is the subtext of many articles being written about the insane pronouncement that Trump has “designated” antifa as a terrorist group.
There is no “debate” required in this discussion. Fascists are the enemy of all Americans and therefore being against fascism is being “for” America and the way of Peace and Justice.
Being against people who are against fascism is to be “for” fascism. If you are a politician talking about “rigged” elections and trying almost daily to incite riots in order to escalate state sponsored violence against peaceful protesters, your opinion of who is, or isn’t, a terrorist has been disqualified. Oh, and if you say racists are “very fine people” then you are standing in solidarity with Racism.
It is for the rest of us to decide who the “good guys” are and to stand together as one with them. Speaking out clearly as being against fascism and the wannabe fascist in our midst is the minimum requirement to patriotic citizenship in these chaotic and dangerous times.
Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, LeBron James, Kim Kardashian West and more were online yesterday expressing shock and dismay at the brutal murder of George Floyd. Notably Taylor Swift was so outraged that she vowed to be a part of a movement to vote Trump out of office.
Derek Chauvin was finally arrested on 3rd-degree murder and manslaughter charges after the widely seen video showing him kneeling on the neck of George Floyd before his death sparked massive protests around the country. Some of the protests turned violent and the precinct where Chauvin had been stationed was set ablaze. The celebrity reaction shows that this is about more than the horrific criminal act that took the life of another innocent “alleged” detainee. The systemic racism in the US and, in particular, the police brutality that goes unchecked have reached a boiling point for the entire country.
Taylor Swift had been criticized in the past for not supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 – at a time when her massive following could have potentially saved the country form 4 years of Trump’s antics and dangerous policies. This time, however, she vows it will be a completely different story and basically guarantees a loss for the current White House resident on November 3rd. “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump.”
“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump.”
Tweet by Taylor Swift
Billie Eilish did non mince words in this passionate indictment of a racist culture seemingly unchecked by reason or intelligence:
As follows various quotes from tweets and instagram posts by other famous names:
“Enough is enough! What will it take ? A civil war ? A new president? Violent riots ? It’s tired ! I’m tired ! The country is tired !You don’t put fear in people when you do this you just show {what a} coward YOU ARE! And how America is really not the land of the free!”
Cardi B on Instagram
More protests are scheduled for today across the nation and the reaction is in honor of George Floyd but also addresses many more deep seated issues that have been building for more than 4 years. Trump may feel that he scores a political point every time a store is looted but the vast majority has had enough of gaslighting and mind games, not to mention disgustingly racist rhetoric and “dog whistle” innuendo. The steep climb to a November redemption appears to have started.
Today, after much speculation in the media as to when this would finally happen, President Obama released an official and detailed statement outlining his support and endorsement of his former VP, Joe Biden.
After gaining the endorsement of his former rival Bernie Sanders, the democratic ticket is gaining clarity with the next big announcement to be the naming of Biden’s VP choice. There has been speculation that it could be, as promised, a woman, with both Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar mentioned, as well as Michelle Obama in what would be a bombshell, to say the least. In case a surprise male pick were to emerge, there’s been a somewhat more far-fetched prediction of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York.
While this was no surprise, the timing of it and how it would be handled was an unknown, until now. Watch the full video above or read below for the full text.
Here is the full text of the video:
Hi everybody. Let me start by saying the obvious – these aren’t normal times. As we all manage our way through a pandemic unlike anything we’ve seen in a century, Michelle and I hope that you and your families are safe and well. If you’ve lost somebody to this virus, or if someone in your life is sick, or if you’re one of the millions suffering economic hardship, please know that you’re in our prayers. Please know that you’re not alone. Because now’s the time for all of us to help where we can and to be there for each other, as neighbors, as coworkers, and as fellow citizens.
In fact, over the past weeks, we’ve seen plenty of examples of the kind of courage, kindness, and selflessness that we’re going to need to get through one of the most difficult times in our history. Michelle and I have been amazed at the incredible bravery of our medical professionals who are putting their lives on the line to save others. The public servants and health officials battling this disease. The workers taking risks every day to keep our economy running. And everyone who’s making their own sacrifice at home with their families, all for the greater good.
But if there’s one thing we’ve learned as a country from moments of great crisis, it’s that the spirit of looking out for one another can’t be restricted to our homes, or our workplaces, or our neighborhoods, or our houses of worship. It also has to be reflected in our national government. The kind of leadership that’s guided by knowledge and experience; honesty and humility; empathy and grace – that kind of leadership doesn’t just belong in our state capitols and mayors offices. It belongs in the White House.
And that’s why I’m so proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States.
Choosing Joe to be my Vice President was one of the best decisions I ever made, and he became a close friend. And I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a President right now.
He’s someone whose own life has taught him how to persevere; how to bounce back when you’ve been knocked down.
When Joe talks with parents who’ve lost their jobs, we hear the son of a man who once knew the pain of having to tell his children that he’d lost his.
When Joe talks about opportunity for our kids, we hear the young father who took the train home each night so he could tuck his children into bed – and we hear the influence of Jill, a life-long teacher.
When Joe talks to families who’ve lost a hero, we hear another parent of an American veteran; a kindred spirit; somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is.
That’s Joe. Through all his trials, he’s never once forgotten the values or the moral fiber that his parents passed on to him, and that made him who he is. That’s what steels his faith – in God, in America, and in all of us.
That steel made him an incredible partner when I needed one the most.
Joe was there as we rebuilt from the Great Recession and rescued the American auto industry. He was the one asking what every policy would do for the middle class and everyone striving to get into the middle class. That’s why I asked him to implement the Recovery Act, which saved millions of jobs and got people back on their feet – because Joe gets stuff done.
Joe helped me manage H1N1 and prevent the Ebola epidemic from becoming the type of pandemic we’re seeing now. He helped me restore America’s standing and leadership in the world on the other threats of our time, like nuclear proliferation and climate change.
Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery. And I know he’ll surround himself with good people – experts, scientists, military officials who actually know how to run the government and care about doing a good job running the government, and know how to work with our allies, and who will always put the American people’s interests above their own.
Now Joe will be a better candidate for having run the gauntlet of primaries and caucuses alongside one of the most impressive Democratic fields ever. Each of our candidates were talented and decent, with a track record of accomplishment, smart ideas, and serious visions for the future.
And that’s certainly true of the candidate who made it farther than any other – Bernie Sanders. Bernie’s an American original – a man who has devoted his life to giving voice to working people’s hopes, dreams, and frustrations. He and I haven’t always agreed on everything, but we’ve always shared a conviction that we have to make America a fairer, more just, more equitable society. We both know that nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. And the ideas he’s championed; the energy and enthusiasm he inspired, especially in young people, will be critical in moving America in a direction of progress and hope.
Because for the second time in twelve years, we’ll have the incredible task of rebuilding our economy. And to meet the moment, the Democratic Party will have to be bold.
You know, I could not be prouder of the incredible progress that we made together during my presidency. But if I were running today, I wouldn’t run the same race or have the same platform as I did in 2008. The world is different; there’s too much unfinished business for us to just look backwards. We have to look to the future. Bernie understands that. And Joe understands that. It’s one of the reasons that Joe already has what is the most progressive platform of any major party nominee in history. Because even before the pandemic turned the world upside down, it was already clear that we needed real structural change.
The vast inequalities created by the new economy are easier to see now, but they existed long before this pandemic hit. Health professionals, teachers, delivery drivers, grocery clerks, cleaners, the people who truly make our economy run – they’ve always been essential. And for years, too many of the people who do the essential work of this country have been underpaid, financially stressed, and given too little support. And that applies to the next generation of Americans – young people graduating into unprecedented unemployment. They’re going to need economic policies that give them faith in the future and give them relief from crushing student loan debt.
So we need to do more than just tinker around the edges with tax credits or underfunded programs. We have to go further to give everybody a great education, a lasting career, and a stable retirement.
We have to protect the gains we made with the Affordable Care Act, but it’s also time to go further. We should make plans affordable for everyone, provide everyone with a public option, expand Medicare, and finish the job so that health care isn’t just a right, but a reality for everybody.
We have to return the U.S. to the Paris Agreement, and lead the world in reducing the pollution that causes climate change. But science tells us we have to go much further – that it’s time for us to accelerate progress on bold new green initiatives that make our economy a clean energy innovator, save us money, and secure our children’s future.
Of course, Democrats may not always agree on every detail of the best way to bring about each and every one of these changes. But we do agree that they’re needed. And that only happens if we win this election.
Because one thing everybody has learned by now is that the Republicans occupying the White House and running the U.S. Senate are not interested in progress. They’re interested in power. They’ve shown themselves willing to kick millions off their health insurance and eliminate preexisting condition protections for millions more, even in the middle of this public health crisis, even as they’re willing to spend a trillion dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy. They’ve given polluters unlimited power to poison our air and our water, and denied the science of climate change just as they denied the science of pandemics. Repeatedly, they’ve disregarded American principles of rule of law, and voting rights, and transparency – basic norms that previous administrations observed regardless of party. Principles that are the bedrock of our democracy.
So our country’s future hangs on this election. And it won’t be easy. The other side has a massive war chest. The other side has a propaganda network with little regard for the truth. On the other hand, pandemics have a way of cutting through a lot of noise and spin to remind us of what is real, and what is important. This crisis has reminded us that government matters. It’s reminded us that good government matters. That facts and science matter. That the rule of law matters. That having leaders who are informed, and honest, and seek to bring people together rather than drive them apart – those kind of leaders matter.
In other words, elections matter. Right now, we need Americans of goodwill to unite in a great awakening against a politics that too often has been characterized by corruption, carelessness, self-dealing, disinformation, ignorance, and just plain meanness. And to change that, we need Americans of all political stripes to get involved in our politics and our public life like never before.
For those of us who believe in building a more just, more generous, more democratic America where everybody has a fair shot at opportunity. For those of us who believe in a government that cares about the many, and not just the few. For those of us who love this country and are willing to do our part to make sure it lives up to its highest ideals – now’s the time to fight for what we believe in.
So join us. Join Joe. Go to JoeBiden.com right now. Make a plan for how you are going to get involved. Keep taking care of yourself, and your families, and each other. Keep believing in the possibilities of a better world. And I will see you on the campaign trail as soon as I can.
Trump Cuts Obama-Era Fuel Efficiency Standards By Half, An Economic Risk With Environmental Costs
On Tuesday, March 31st, President Donald Trump delivered yet again on one of his more cryptic campaign promises—to roll back environmental policies set during the Obama Administration in order to boost the fossil-fuel economy. This time, his instrument of anti-ecological attack is the automotive industry, which he seeks to send back to the carbon spewing dark ages at the peril of destroying all life on earth.
The new standards being pushed into action are regressive from the 2012-initiated Obama standards. Eight years ago, President Obama called for automakers to increase efficiency by 5% and aim for a 54 mpg average on vehicles. Trump’s new plan reduces that efficiency to 2.5% and aims instead for a more conservative 40 mpg. The EPA and the Department of Transportation recently wrote up and expressed support of Trump’s amended standards.
The stated rationale behind this change, according to Trump and his colleagues, is that it will help the economy. These standards will decrease the price of cars by an estimated $1,000, in order to incentivize people to buy newer and safer vehicles. Meanwhile, it is meant to increase manufacturing and savings and production costs of automakers. This is probably why car companies such as General Motors, Toyota, and Chrysler champion Trump’s new standards—they buy into the trickle-down economic ideal that Republicans are also promoting.
Not only dangerous for the Environment, also Zero Economic Benefit
Many, however, question the validity behind Trump’s economic optimism. For starters, under a 40 mpg average, drivers will have to pay more for gas. According to Consumer Reports, car owners will have to spend $3,200 more on fuel over the course of a vehicles lifetime, dwarfing the original $1,000 savings at the time of purchase.
Meanwhile, the plan could hurt car manufacturers operating in international markets. Just because the United States remains lax in its fuel efficiency standards does not mean that the rest of the world will follow suit. Gas-guzzling, carbon-spewing cars might be fair game in America, but they may not meet legal requirements overseas. Thus, American-made cars may fail to turn profits in foreign markets, causing financial strife and employee layoffs stateside.
And then there is the environmental cost. Gas powered, ICE vehicles are the greatest contributors to carbon emissions in the world right now. According to the New York Times, Trump’s new plan would allow cars to emit almost a billion more tons of CO2 over the course of their lifetimes. While the long-term financial price of these increased emissions is unclear (yet probably very expensive), their consequences will inevitably extend far beyond monetary concerns.
Using Economic “Stimulus” as an excuse to gut Environmental Safeguards is the New Anti-Eco War Tactic
Carbon dioxide trapped in our atmosphere is the leading contributor to climate change. The planet is already in a dangerous situation with more parts-per-million than what is ecologically sound. Industrially, the world demands a turn away from fossil fuels and a decrease in emissions.
Trump’s new plan, however, digresses from the planet’s urgent environmental needs. The penalties could include biodiversity loss, extreme temperature shifts, natural disasters, rising sea levels, and more. Even in shorter terms, greater emissions can compromise air quality, leading to increased illnesses and health issues—something that the world certainly does not need under the current circumstances.
While Trump has his powerful profit-driven supporters for these new standards, many are pushing back against him. Most notably, the state of California continues to aim for its own emissions standards that are far more stringent than the federal ones. The Trump administration deemed California setting its own standards unconstitutional back in September, but the Golden State has not given up the fight, launching lawsuits and municipal plans to decrease its statewide fossil fuel reliance.
Environmental groups and electric car manufacturers also disagree with the President—BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen have already struck deals with California and twenty-three additional states opposing Trump’s federal standards are expected to join Cali in filing suits against the administration.
With everything America is fighting right now, environmental issues have seemed to take a temporary backseat to more immediate matters. This late addition to Trump’s ongoing list of environmental rollbacks comes at a precarious time, but it should not be overlooked. Despite everything going on, the climate continues changing and the earth continues warming. When the pandemic passes, environmental problems will still be here. The least we can do is make sure they do not gain an upper hand while we briefly focus our attentions elsewhere.
End of Day Bounce-back perhaps triggered by Passage of Aid Package
In spite of unprecedented intervention from the Federal Reserve and Congress the markets continue to plunge, generally every other day, in what has become a volatile and, for many, alarming pattern.
Intraday, the Dow dropped to more than 2000 points lower, for the second time this week. At moment in time the level was below where the Dow sat on January 20th, 2017 when Trump was inaugurated.
Neither the two rate cuts, the second one being a massive 1% “surprise” (which sent rates to zero for the first time in history) intervention on Sunday, nor the trillion dollar stimulus package pushed forward by the White House, appears to have had any significant effect on the consistently declining share prices.
Click to Buy “Elliott Wave Trading” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
The Senate today passed the congress approved relief package, which provides for free coronavirus testing and paid emergency leave, and is expected to be signed into law by the President.
As we have pointed out in previous posts, while the novel coronavirus is getting 100% of the credit for the unwelcome bear market and the attendant fears, the market swoon and the pandemic could also be parallel events without any direct causal connection.
Naturally the companies and sectors such as travel which are directly and negatively affected have had large hits to their stock prices based on the catastrophic business outlook.
On the other hand there are companies and business that could even benefit from the shift of economic activity necessitated by the preventive measures that are being universally implemented. For those companies it is the underlying bear market sentiment that can and will, in all likelihood, drag them down along with the rest.
Oil Continues to Plummet as Likely Halt to the Travel Industry Looms Large
The oil shock as mirrored in Exon (XOM) and U.S. Oil (USO) shares continues in spectacular fashion falling over 10% and 16% respectively. This can be seen as a secondary shock in the cascading price depressions influences initially by the production increases used by Saudi Arabia and Russia to start an all out price war, and now being hit by the virtual shutdown of the travel industry. The initial shockwaves reverberated sending the crude prices down 30% while the losses in the socks (and ETF) above are adding to the depressed levels.
Delta Airlines (DAL) was down even more on the outlook for the travel industry dropping an incredible 26.73% today alone. At $23.02 it is hard to believe that the stock was over $63 two days ago. Pending bailout aside, this is indicating that airline bankruptcies are now beyond probable and verging on a strong likelihood. Presumably a bailout would turn the stock price around, but potentially not shield it completely from the bear market across-the-board progression.
Naturally, after crowing and bragging at every uptick and new all-time high in the markets for more than three years, Trump is placing the “blame” for current intensely downward trajectory squarely on the “chinese” coronavirus and attempting to avoid any responsibility for the state of the markets, economy or anything at all on planet earth for that matter.
Naturally, in an election year this is to be expected. At the same time the reality that this bear market has only just begun, the all time high was little more than a month ago on February 12th, does not bode well for his chances, likely against Joe Biden, in the general election this November.
You can also find books on Stock Trading, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org
The Endangered Species Act (ESA)—federal law that protects and preserves some of America’s most vulnerable plants and animals—has been pretty unanimously celebrated and upheld since it went into action in 1973. Passed by the 93rd U.S. Congress during the Republican Nixon Administration, the ESA is an environmental policy that has sustained nonpartisan support over the decades. Politicians and citizens on all sides of the political spectrum seem to realize the Act’s importance and want to help the country’s most susceptible creatures.
After all, who wouldn’t want to support Bald Eagles, Polar Bears, Sea Turtles, Seals, and Whales? Leaving these magnificent animals out to dry when their species are on their last legs would seem utterly heartless.
Nevertheless, the Trump Administration has somehow found a roundabout way to assault these creatures. While the President has hardly suggested direct amendments to the ESA, his environmental policies regarding climate change as well as his push-back approach to federally protected lands are unlawful attacks on Endangered Species all the same.
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Over the past four years, President Trump has encouraged opening up National Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Refuges for privatization and extractive industries. He claims that this will stimulate the economy and create jobs. However, it does so by negating some of our country’s most steadfast conservation movements, and sacrificing some of our most sacred landscapes.
While beautiful, these landscapes are not just picturesque backdrops for human indulgence. Federally protected lands are vital spaces for many rare and endangered species. National Parks and Forests, with their strict hunting and fishing regulations, often serve as the final secure habitats for animal and plant populations that once covered the countryside.
When Trump gives companies the OK to drill or develop in these spaces, he creates ecological damage that jeopardizes these species.
On other occasions, the President has actively subverted wildlife protection when creating policies. On a recent trip to California, he supported giving out “Endangered Species Act permits” under the “Trump Administration Biological Opinions.” These BiOps allow developers to bypass ESA guidelines when pumping water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. Given that the estuary provides a protective haven for salmon and other fish species, these permits severely threaten the aquatic ecosystem. The American Fisheries Society along with several scientific groups and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have urged Trump against granting these permits, but the President seems to pay little mind to such environmental coalitions (or science as a whole for that matter).
This would not be the first time that Trump ignored the Fish & Wildlife Service. Back in 2016, the FSW created a list of 500 species awaiting protection decisions. For four years, this list has gone unobserved under Trump and each day that it gets brushed aside, the vulnerable species in question grow weaker.
The Animal Kingdom and Caring Humans Fight Back
Now the Center for Biological Diversity is actually suing the Administration for inaction. The ESA states that decisions over whether or not to protect a species should take no more than two years. Thus, Trump’s response to the list is long (in fact, criminally) overdue.
It should really come as no surprise that Trump is against championing the Endangered Species Act. An open climate change denier since his campaign, Trump has passed countless egregious environmental policies during his term. He pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Accords, refuses to limit carbon emissions, and encourages a boom in the fossil fuel industry when the planet needs a switch to renewable energy. The large-scale, apocalyptic consequences of these decisions are palpable. In the short term, however, one can easily overlook the fact that through these policies, Trump is quietly subverting the long-loved, perseverant, and environmentally crucial Endangered Species Act. By refusing to fend off global warming, he is contributing to mass extinction, destroying habitats, and suffocating creatures in dire need of a balanced ecosystem to survive.
While protecting animals and plants might not seem like a top priority when current environmental catastrophes are putting humans at risk, one must remember that humans too require a natural ecosystem to subsist here on Earth. When wild species die out, it affects the entire chain of being and will eventually work its way up to mankind. Therefore, a sense of respect, security, and salvation for our fellow living organisms is essential for the human race to flourish.
Now, the Department of the Interior under Trump wants to make direct cuts to the ESA, finally facing the enshrined act head-on rather than obstructing it under the cowardly guises of other eco-political monstrosities. Upholding the ESA is about far more than just saving a few cute critters, though. It is about combatting the climate crisis, preserving the ecosystem, preventing disease, and making sure future generations get to grow up in a healthy world. It is about humans not taking the planet for granted, and not abusing it at the expense of those we share it with.
Although these titles are all coming from a perspective that challenges the current resident of the White House, the details are stunning and do matter – great research and reporting can help us to get beneath and beyond the slogans and the rhetoric. With this year being possibly the most important election year in history, staying informed is key. If you are one of the millions of Americans that have suffered during the chaos that President Trump has instigated during his time in office these books might add a deeper level of understanding just how we got to this point and what will be required to change the direction for the better in the next four years.
Click to Buy “Running Against the Devil” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
Donald Trump is exactly the disaster we feared for America. Hated by a majority of Americans, Trump’s administration is rocked by daily scandals, and he’s embarrassed us at home and abroad. Trump can’t win in 2020, right? Wrong.
As 2016 proved, Trump can’t win, but the Democrats can sure as hell lose. Only one thing can save Trump, and that’s a Democratic candidate who runs the race Trump wants them to run instead of the campaign they must run to win in 2020. Wilson combines decades of national political experience and insight in his take-no-prisoners analysis, hammering Trump’s destructive and dangerous first term in a case-by-case takedown of the worst president in history and describing the terrifying prospect of four more years of Trump. Like no one else can, Wilson blows the lid off Trump’s 2020 Republican war machine, showing the exact strategies and tactics they’ll use against the Democratic nominee . . . and how the Democrats can avoid the catastrophe waiting for them if they fall into Trump’s trap. Available on Amazon.
If you’ve asked yourself the question, what more can I do to make sure Donald Trump does not continue to occupy the Oval Office on January 20, 2021?–then this book is for you. A playbook for the common citizen, A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump addresses the many things individuals can do in 2020 every day, without having to leave their jobs, move to Iowa, or spend every waking moment on the election. In A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump, Plouffe’s message is simple: the only way change happens, especially on scale, is one human being talking to another. It won’t happen magically, it won’t happen because of debates and conventions, it won’t happen because of ads.
It will happen because citizens take action. And Plouffe is here to help, with specific strategies and tailored talking points to make sure your time and energy aren’t wasted. He lays out why different activities the average citizen can take can make a difference to getting to 270 electoral votes, how people can go about doing them and examples of where it’s worked in the past. There are at least 65 million Americans who are likely committed to voting against Trump. It is entirely in our control to grow that number and make sure the support materializes in actual votes. Plouffe arms us with advice on how to defend against misinformation online, how to create and spread content, how to register and get out the vote early, how to make a difference in the battlegrounds and how to stay involved after the big election. Filled with stories from the last sixteen years, both successes and failures, as well as political strategies that have evolved in the wake of the breakthrough campaign that Plouffe masterminded, A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump is a pragmatic, specific, and very motivational guide for the path forward. Also Available on Amazon.
Click to Buy “Un-Trumping America” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
Dan Pfeiffer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yes We (Still) Can and cohost of Pod Save America, is back — a sharp political playbook for defeating Trump and saving the nation from Republican-driven disaster.
There is nothing more important than beating Donald Trump in 2020, but defeating Trump is just the start of this timely book. Un-Trumping America offers readers three critical insights: first, Trump is not an aberration, but rather the logical extension of the modern Republican Party; second, how Democrats can defeat Trump in 2020; and third, preventing the likes of Trump from ever happening again with a plan to fix democracy.
“[UN-TRUMPING AMERICA] lays out the path for Democrats to save the day, not by beating Republicans at their own (dirty, he convincingly claims) game but by, like, actually doing democracy.”–Booklist. Available on Amazon.
Click to Buy “A Very Stable Genius” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
Washington Post national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and White House bureau chief Philip Rucker, both Pulitzer Prize winners, provide the definitive insider narrative of Donald Trump’s unique presidency with shocking new reporting and insight into its implications.
“I alone can fix it.” So went Donald J. Trump’s march to the presidency on July 21, 2016, when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland, promising to restore what he described as a fallen nation. Yet over the subsequent years, as he has undertaken the actual work of the commander in chief, it has been hard to see beyond the daily chaos of scandal, investigation, and constant bluster. It would be all too easy to mistake Trump’s first term for one of pure and uninhibited chaos, but there were patterns to his behavior and that of his associates. The universal value of the Trump administration is loyalty – not to the country, but to the president himself – and Trump’s North Star has been the perpetuation of his own power, even when it meant imperiling our shaky and mistrustful democracy. Available on Amazon.
Click to Buy “Everything Trump Touches Dies” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
In the #1 New York Times bestselling Everything Trump Touches Dies, political campaign strategist and commentator Rick Wilson delivers “a searingly honest, bitingly funny, comprehensive answer to the question we find ourselves asking most mornings: ‘What the hell is going on?’ (Chicago Tribune). The Guardian hails Everything Trump Touches Dies, saying it gives, “more unvarnished truths about Donald Trump than anyone else in the American political establishment has offered. Wilson never holds back.” Rick mercilessly exposes the damage Trump has done to the country, to the Republican Party, and to the conservative movement that has abandoned its principles for the worst President in American history.
Wilson unblinkingly dismantles Trump’s deceptions and the illusions to which his supporters cling, shedding light on the guilty parties who empower and enable Trump in Washington and in the media. He calls out the race-war dead-enders who hitched a ride with Trump, the alt-right basement dwellers who worship him, and the social conservatives who looked the other way. Publishers Weekly calls it, “a scathing, profane, unflinching, and laugh-out-loud funny rebuke of Donald Trump and his presidency.” No left-winger, Wilson is a lifelong conservative who delivers his withering critique of Trump from the right. A leader of the Never Trump movement, he warned from the start that Trump would destroy the lives and reputations of everyone in his orbit, and Everything Trump Touches Dies is a deft chronicle the tragicomic political story of our time. From the early campaign days through the shock of election night, to the inconceivable train-wreck of Trump’s first year. Rick Wilson provides not only an insightful analysis of the Trump administration, but also an optimistic path forward for the GOP, the conservative movement, and the country. Available on Amazon.
Skyline of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Headquarters of Deutsche Bank – Photo / Adobe Stock
Great Title, Extensive Research, ‘Follow The Money’ at its Best
Based on its title, David Enrich’s new book “Dark Towers” might sound like an appendix to the nine part horror-fantasy series that Stephen King wrote between 1982 and 2012. In reality, though, Enrich’s book is a true story of financial corruption, with the full title “Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and an Epic Trail of Destruction.” Nevertheless, the tale is just as riveting as any novel, and is perhaps even darker than any work of fiction.
Enrich’s book, recently released on February 18th, follows the trajectory of Deutsche Bank, a German bank that formed in 1870, helped finance the Nazi’s through World War II, and then came to America in the late 20th Century to get in on the deregulated American economy. And, in particular, during the most recent decade when Deutsche started financing a volatile real-estate tycoon named Donald Trump.
As Enrich makes clear over the book’s 400+ pages, Deutsche has been a portrait of Wall Street depravity and recklessness. The company grew to be the largest bank in the world, with 90,000 employees and nearly $2 trillion in assets. It took on Trump as a client when no one else would, for the bank, as is well documented in this tome, relished in rule-breaking and loaned the young(er) Donald billions of dollars for risky projects. According to Enrich, without the help of Deutsche, Trump probably would’ve never become the ragged edge gambler that he did, and subsequently, he probably would’ve never become President.
At the Heart of the Corrupt Story, of course, is Russia
Click to buy “Dark Towers” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
The book was researched over a long period of time, most notably during the period Enrich was Financial Editor for the New York Times. His direct contacts and stories relating to several top officials at Deutsche Bank that died via suicide under mysterious circumstances gave him access to some unique documents and data. During a period between 2010 and 2015 massive sums of money were loaned to Trump at a time when no banks other than Deutsche would even consider a loan, due to his multiple bankruptcies and other irregularities. Ultimately, through some complex maneuvering a Russian financial concern called VTB was involved in the process. The same VTB that was also involved in negotiations for a project to build Trump Tower Moscow.
Due to Trump’s seemingly endless legal battles to prevent his tax returns from being seen, even within a closed trial setting, it is likely that the ultimate truths in this part of the saga will only be revealed once he has left office. Needless to say, along with many other legal issues there will be a lot riding on the November elections for the Nation and, in many ways detailed in this book, for Trump personally.
Aside from the bank’s dealings with Trump—which are now the topic of federal investigation—Enrich also describes Deutsche’s multiple cases of criminal behavior. In a promotional interview the author did with NPR, he explains that Deutsche “had more money-laundering schemes than I can even count off the top of my head. They were evading taxes. They were bribing people. They were violating international sanctions. Look at any major financial scandal in the past 10 or 15 years, Deutsche Bank has been at or near the center.”
Naturally, this all leads up to the financial crash of 2008, where the bank yet again narrowly escaped dreadful consequences by using shady methods of exploitative foresight.
Some Hard Evidence is Here but the Reckoning will Require A Legal Battle
Click to buy “The Uninhabitable Earth” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
However, Enrich’s book is not a dry account of contemporary American finances, nor is it a bland record of numbers and figures. With the voice of an accomplished journalist, Enrich shares a compelling narrative through “Dark Towers,” one filled with colorful characters and interwoven plotlines.
While it is certainly a work of non-fiction, reading the book is a novelistic experience. It opens with the mysterious death of former Deutsche employee Bill Broeksmit, which Enrich uses as the starting point to unravel the bank’s incredible history—one that spans interactions with everyone from Trump to Russian oligarchs.
As aforementioned, “Dark Towers” is an entirely true story, but that just makes it all the more twisted. It is a telling tale for the post-truth age: a story of power constructs and hard-to-digest realities that will leave you second-guessing the burden of knowing the cold hard facts.
David Enrich is the Financial Editor for the New York Times. He is the recipient of the 2016 Gerald Loeb Award for feature journalism amongst other awards. “Dark Towers” is his second book, following 2017’s “The Spider Network” which was shortlisted for the Financial Times’ Best Book of the Year award.
This year political news has been non-stop and included the good, the bad and the very ugly. With a very real and consequential presidential election fast approaching, staying informed is key. Below we have curated a list of top ranking political books currently available in the market.
Click to Buy “Why We’re Polarized” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
“The American political system–which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president–is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,” writes political analyst Ezra Klein. “We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.” In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.
Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together.
Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the twentieth century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis. This is a revelatory book that will change how you look at politics, and perhaps at yourself.
Click to Buy “Running Against The Devil” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
As 2016 proved, Trump can’t win, but the Democrats can sure as hell lose. Only one thing can save Trump, and that’s a Democratic candidate who runs the race Trumpwants them to run instead of the campaign they must run to win in 2020. Wilson combines decades of national political experience and insight in his take-no-prisoners analysis, hammering Trump’s destructive and dangerous first term in a case-by-case takedown of the worst president in history and describing the terrifying prospect of four more years of Trump. Like no one else can, Wilson blows the lid off Trump’s 2020 Republican war machine, showing the exact strategies and tactics they’ll use against the Democratic nominee . . . and how the Democrats can avoid the catastrophe waiting for them if they fall into Trump’s trap.
Running Against the Devil is sharply funny, brutally honest, andinfused with Wilson’s biting commentary. It’s a vital indictment of Trump, a no-nonsense, no-holds-barred road map to saving America, and the guide to making Donald Trump a one-term president. The stakes are too high to do anything less.
Click to Buy “Bag Man” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon’s second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when–at the height of Watergate–three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon’s impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency. The self-described “counterpuncher” vice president did everything he could to bury their investigation: dismissing it as a “witch hunt,” riling up his partisan base, making the press the enemy, and, with a crumbling circle of loyalists, scheming to obstruct justice in order to survive.
In this blockbuster account, Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz detail the investigation that exposed Agnew’s crimes, the attempts at a cover-up–which involved future president George H. W. Bush–and the backroom bargain that forced Agnew’s resignation but also spared him years in federal prison. Based on the award-winning hit podcast, Bag Manexpands and deepens the story of Spiro Agnew’s scandal and its lasting influence on our politics, our media, and our understanding of what it takes to confront a criminal in the White House.
Click to Buy “A Warning” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
On September 5, 2018, the New York Times published a bombshell essay and took the rare step of granting its writer anonymity. Described only as “a senior official in the Trump administration,” the author provided eyewitness insight into White House chaos, administration instability, and the people working to keep Donald Trump’s reckless impulses in check. With the 2020 election on the horizon, Anonymous is speaking out once again. In this book, the original author pulls back the curtain even further, offering a first-of-its-kind look at the president and his record — a must-read before Election Day.
It will surprise and challenge both Democrats and Republicans, motivate them to consider how we judge our nation’s leaders, and illuminate the consequences of re-electing a commander in chief unfit for the role.
This book is a sobering assessment of the man in the Oval Office and a warning about something even more important — who we are as a people.
Click to Buy “The Nancy Pelosi Way” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
In 2007, Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking elected female government official in US history when she started her tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In January 2019, she began her third term as Speaker during a tumultuous time in American political history. Having represented San Francisco for thirty-two years, Pelosi has become well-known for her work to expand health care, lift up workers, protect the environment, promote human rights, and make progress for the American people regardless of the president in the White House or the party controlling Congress.
In The Nancy Pelosi Way, author and daughter of the Speaker Christine Pelosi takes a close look at how her mother went from homemaker to House Speaker to become the most powerful female politician in America and at the many important lessons from her actions and dialogue along the way. This book weaves substantive issues and Nancy Pelosi’s advice on politics, family, and friendship gleaned from her life from her childhood in Baltimore to her hands-on motherhood in San Francisco to her national leadership, to demonstrate how this mother of five and grandmother of nine achieved her success. This book serves as the perfect guide for anyone looking to enter public service or prosper as a leader in their own field.
Click to Buy “Trump and His Generals” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
Trump and His Generals is New York Times-bestselling author Peter Bergen’s jaw-dropping intimate account of life inside that storm, foregrounding the experiences of the four generals whose relationships with Trump have done so much to define his presidency–McMaster, Kelly, Mattis and Flynn. From Iraq and Afghanistan to Syria and Iran, from Russia and China to North Korea and Islamist terrorism, Trump and His Generals is a brilliant reckoning with an American ship of state navigating a roiling sea of acute threats without a well-functioning rudder. Bergen is both an intrepid and exquisitely well-sourced journalist and a very wise head himself on national security issues, and the combination of intense human drama and trenchant big-picture analysis results in a gripping read that offers tremendous clarity on the complex landscape of America’s geopolitical place in the world. Clarity, unfortunately, is not the same thing as reassurance.
Click to Buy “Impeachment” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
Impeachment is a double-edged sword. Though it was designed to check tyrants, Thomas Jefferson also called impeachment “the most formidable weapon for the purpose of a dominant faction that was ever contrived.” On the one hand, it nullifies the will of voters, the basic foundation of all representative democracies. On the other, its absence from the Constitution would leave the country vulnerable to despotic leadership. It is rarely used, and with good reason.
Only three times has a president’s conduct led to such political disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office, transforming a political crisis into a constitutional one. None has yet succeeded. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 for failing to kowtow to congressional leaders–and, in a large sense, for failing to be Abraham Lincoln–yet survived his Senate trial. Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 after the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against him for lying, obstructing justice, and employing his executive power for personal and political gain. Bill Clinton had an affair with a White House intern, but in 1999 he faced trial in the Senate less for that prurient act than for lying under oath about it.
Click to Buy “Democracy in Chains” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
Behind today’s headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules, but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did. Democracy in Chains names its true architect—the Nobel Prize-winning political economist James McGill Buchanan—and dissects the operation he and his colleagues designed over six decades to alter every branch of government to disempower the majority. “Democracy in Chains leaves me with hope: Perhaps as books like MacLean’s continue to shine a light on important truths, Americans will begin to realize they need to pay more attention and not succumb to the cynical view that known liars make the best leaders.” —New York Times Book Review
Click to Buy “The Mueller Report” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
The long-awaited Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election. An introduction by The Washington Post titled “A President, a Prosecutor, and the Protection of American Democracy”. A timeline of the major events of the Special Counsel’s investigation from May 2017, when Robert Mueller was appointed, to the report’s delivery. A guide to individuals involved, including in the Special Counsel’s Office, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Trump Campaign, the White House, the Trump legal defense team, and the Russians. Key documents in the Special Counsel’s investigation, including filings pertaining to General Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, and the Russian internet operation in St. Petersburg. Each document is introduced and explained by Washington Post reporters.
One of the most urgent and important investigations ever conducted, the Mueller inquiry focuses on Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, and Russian interference in the 2016 election, and draws on the testimony of dozens of witnesses and the work of some of the country’s most seasoned prosecutors. The special counsel’s investigation looms as a turning point in American history. The Mueller Report is essential reading for all citizens concerned about the fate of the presidency and the future of our democracy.
Click to Buy “Fascism” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
A Fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.” A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of America’s most admired public servants, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state. Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written by someone who has not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.
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In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia–including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove–was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, Ukrainian revolutionaries raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon. Unlikely as it might seem, there is a thread connecting these events, and Rachel Maddow follows it to its crooked source: the unimaginably lucrative and equally corrupting oil and gas industry. With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe, revealing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas along the way, and drawing a surprising conclusion about why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election. She deftly shows how Russia’s rich reserves of crude have, paradoxically, stunted its growth, forcing Putin to maintain his power by spreading Russia’s rot into its rivals, its neighbors, the West’s most important alliances, and the United States. Chevron, BP, and a host of other industry players get their star turn, most notably ExxonMobil and the deceptively well-behaved Rex Tillerson. The oil and gas industry has weakened democracies in developed and developing countries, fouled oceans and rivers, and propped up authoritarian thieves and killers. But being outraged at it is, according to Maddow, “like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can’t really blame the lion. It’s in her nature.”
Click to Buy “Our Revolution” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores
When Bernie Sanders began his race for the presidency, it was considered by the political establishment and the media to be a “fringe” campaign, something not to be taken seriously. After all, he was just an Independent senator from a small state with little name recognition. His campaign had no money, no political organization, and it was taking on the entire Democratic Party establishment.
In Our Revolution, Sanders shares his personal experiences from the campaign trail, recounting the details of his historic primary fight and the people who made it possible. And for the millions looking to continue the political revolution, he outlines a progressive economic, environmental, racial, and social justice agenda that will create jobs, raise wages, protect the environment, and provide health care for all–and ultimately transform our country and our world for the better. For him, the political revolution has just started. The campaign may be over, but the struggle goes on.
